Pity the rather overfed Gen. Bottando of the Italian National Art Theft
Squad. An excellent, unknown Raphael was smuggled out of Rome hidden
under a painting by the heroically second-rate artist Mantini. When it's
eventually recovered at great cost by the Italian government and the
Museo Nazionale, Bottando's peaceable existence in the Eternal City is
further disturbed by forgery, arson, murder, government bureaucracy and
the occasionally overzealous aid of his beautiful assistant, Flavia di
Stefano, and British art historian Jonathan Argyll. Art historian Pears
( The Discovery of Painting ) provides one twist too many in his first
novel, but presumably as this projected series continues his grasp of
the genre will grow surer. His command of the intricacies of Italian
life, art history and the licit and illicit trade in masterworks needs
no improvement: although not all artists or organizations mentioned are
real, none are improbable. Qua mystery, The Raphael Affair is very good;
as cultural explication, it is superlative. --Publishers Weekly